Caviar, Champagne & the Man Who Ate His Boots

Here’s some mood improvement therapy. This one’s from Ann. Ann’s the former BBC journo who got over the wall and became a star Blue Badge, City of London and London Walks guide. She’s London Walks’ Foodies London specialist. But she’s also an all-rounder (as per her qualifications, experience and attainments). Ann can, and does, any number of London Walks. Does them brilliantly. As the title implies, this, her first London Walks podcast, draws on both aspects of her unique skill-set: her specialisation and her wide-ranging experience and abilities. In which connection, it’s also very much London. Sort of. Walter Bagehot once said about London, “London is like a newspaper. Everything is there and everything is disconnected.” Sort of because everything is here in Ann’s talk –  mediaeval Italy, a burrowing owl, a melting glacier, a Londoner who was murdered 850 years ago, polar exploration, Westminster Abbey, beef tea, a tortoise that entertained patients, what gives life a sharp upward boost, a portly 59-year-old, plumbing, Fortnum & Mason and a hospital founded in the 1100s. Everything’s here. But disconnected it isn’t. Ann weaves it all together. It’s merely brilliant. Like her walks.